Heroes of Olympus
by broadwaybear
Summary: What it means to be a hero, from the perspective of heroes and sidekicks and antiheroes alike.


Heroes of Olympus

Percy Jackson doesn't see the glory in being a hero. It means you've seen the very worst the world had to offer and just barely managed to come out of it alive. It means that someone else probably died so people could remember _you_. Either that or it means you died. No, Percy doesn't understand why anyone would want to be a hero.

Annabeth Chase doesn't think heroes exist. She knows Percy is an amazing, powerful, _good_ person. She knows that other demigods of the past have saved lives and taken cities and defended countries, but she doesn't think actions make anyone a hero. To her, a hero is an ideal, a perfect person and although Percy is a good person, he is far from a perfect one. Or maybe it's because once upon a time she thought Luke was a hero and then he tore out her heart and stomped on it. But no matter the reason, Annabeth has realized two things: one is that villains exist even if heroes don't and the other is that she doesn't need perfect, because good is so much more than enough.

Rachel Dare thinks heroes are _work_. "Prophecy this, Oracle that." is all they ever seem to say to her. They want quests, they want hope, they want terror, they want a chance, it doesn't matter, they all just _want _from her. Some days she can give them that, some days she can't. Some days she envies them their exciting lives and countless adventures. Sometimes she pities them for their sorrows and broken homes. More often than not, however, Rachel finds heroes incredibly annoying. So the day a boy with dark hair and dark eyes walks in the room, a boy who is not a hero and doesn't want anything from her, she thinks she just might be willing to break a holy vow for him.

Jason Grace tries not to think about heroes. At heart, he is a soldier and he is happy to be one. But soldiers need generals, they need a chain of command or they fall apart, so when they asked him to lead, he took up that burden because it was his soldierly duty, his sacrifice. When he was thrown far from home with no memory and no idea what was going on, he ended up on a quest with two people he is sure are the hero type. Strong, brave and loyal, _that's_ what he thinks heroes are made of. So he doesn't understand why everyone seems to thinks he's one.

Piper thinks being a hero is all well and good if you can stay out of the spotlight. She thinks there's a lot of pressure on heroes to _keep_ saving people, even after they give up everything for those around them. She thinks that's unfair. Saving the world once in a lifetime should be more than enough, someone else ought to step up and make the sacrifices and fight the battles after that, not the same person over and over again. Piper isn't fond of the limelight because she knows a thing or two about it and the way it makes you seem perfect, so that failure is all the more horrifying. She wants to help people, she really does, but she thinks the least they could do in return is leave her and her friends alone after that.

Thalia Grace avoids the subject of heroes even more than her brother. She could have been a hero, she knows. Young demigods could have heard stories about her and her victories for generations to come. The gods could have cast her name in the stars for all of eternity. But she didn't want to be a hero. Her mother was a drunk and her father was a deadbeat. She spent most of her would-be childhood on the run or as a tree. What kind of backstory is that for a hero? And she was scared. Scared beyond belief. So she forced the job on Percy -kind, brave, indomitable Percy- and she ran away to eternal life, to the endless Hunt. Some days she hates herself for doing that, but then she gathers around the campfire with her sisters and they ask her to tell them the story of Percy Jackson (and Annabeth Chase, of course) and she is glad the right person became the hero in the end.

Nico di Angelo wishes he were a hero. Sometimes he is thinks he could be, if someone gave him half a chance, but then he remembers that he is the son of the god of _death_ and no one wants him to save them. Sometimes he is so jealous of Percy and Grover and Annabeth that he thinks the anger will overwhelm him. But then he remembers his sister and how they did it all for him, to save him and spare him more pain and he is overwhelmed with guilt. No wonder no one wants him for a hero. A hero should be kind and good and he is cold and bitter. He wonders who will remember him when he is gone and sometime he worries no one will. The other demigods, from both camps, fear him and not without reason. He jumps from shadow to shadow, attracting death and fighting with a sword made of broken oaths. He thinks if he were a hero, people would be able to look him in the eye when he walks by. He thinks that if he had the chance to be a hero, some of the darkness might lift from him. But Percy is a hero and Jason is a hero and so he jumps shadows and dwells in the world beyond immortality and prays to deities that could care less about him for a _chance_.

To Chiron, heroes are everything. Most of his students are dead. Some of his students are failures, some are traitors and he has even trained some cowards. Some of his students are lovers and some are fighters. Some of his students are immortalized in the history of gods and men while some of his students lie forgotten in unmarked graves. It doesn't matter. They're all heroes to him.


End file.
